Quiet weather in the short term before our weather pattern ramps up
A storm system could throw some wintry weather our way along with some rain this weekend
Clouds have been the rule to kick of 2024 across much of Central and Eastern Kentucky including Tuesday, although our far southern counties did manage to squeeze in some sunshine during the afternoon hours. Even with high pressure trying to nose in from the southwest, the stubborn clouds hung tough for many locations which is a common theme especially during the winter months in the area. Those spots that stayed in the clouds struggled to reach the upper 30s for highs, while the sunshine helped the southern counties into the low 40s. We did see a few flakes of snow to kick off the new year on Monday with an awesome snow flakes shot from Mary Reed Runyon.
A wave of energy will slide by to our south into the mid-week as a frontal boundary moves in from the west. The bulk of the moisture looks to stay to the south of the commonwealth with mainly some clouds and possibly a few sprinkles across Southern Kentucky Wednesday. The weak front from the west will bring a re-enforcing shot of chilly air behind it for the late week, but not before afternoon highs return to the low and mid-40s with a mix of clouds and sunshine.
Our weather pattern gets much more active this weekend and into early next week as we are tracking 2 separate storms system along the southern branch of the jet stream. If you’ve lived around here for any length of time, you know it’s a pretty simple scenario despite the complexity and possibility of various forms of precipitation. It’s all about the track of the surface low and it moves by just to our south. Farther north, means more rain, farther southern track means more of a rain/snow mix or mainly snow.
At this point given the latest data, I think we see a bit of both, with just a few degrees making a big difference. There’s some decent moisture with this system, so if we see some decent snow showers even during the daylight on Saturday, it should be that heavy, wet stuff that would coat the elevated surfaces and grassy areas but it’s all still several days away. The main action should pull out by Saturday night with a weaker system following suit on Sunday with a few rain showers along with some snow shower potentially. Of course we’ll be watching this closely in the coming days.
Looking ahead to next week more disruptive weather may be on the way to Central and Eastern Kentucky as yet another strong wave of low pressure slides through the Ohio Valley. This system looks a bit stronger but it should track farther north keeping this mainly a rain event. The bigger issue may be some very strong winds as some of the data indicates winds could gust over 45 miles per hour due to the strength of the low pressure spinning right overhead. More on this impactful system as well as this week progresses.
ABC 36 HOUR FORECAST
TUESDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy and cold. Lows in mid to upper-20s.
WEDNESDAY: Partly sunny, still cool. Highs in the low-40s.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: More clouds and cold. Lows in the upper-20s.
